2013-06-01

Remember, this all started when John Cook posted his story of having seen the tape. He didn't have the tape, he had only viewed it on the mysterious iPhone. Why did he post his story then, without the tape or any other solid confirmation (other than the photo)? It's a story with pretty severe implications (as we have seen in the past couple weeks) so you really want to get your ducks lined up before going to press. Well, as Cook puts it:

The producer, in turn, asked CNN's Canada reporter about it. The Canada reporter—and this was a pretty fucking big mistake—called a source who used to work in Ford's office. Within 40 minutes, word had gotten back to me that "CNN called Ford's office asking about a crack tape."

Thanks CNN. Who would have thought that the stenographic reflex was so ingrained?

Hey you know who else deserves a shoutout? Remember at the end of last year when Judge Hackland ruled that Rob Ford violated the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act and ordered him out of office? And then three Ontario Appeals Court justices overturned that ruling on a bizarre and contrived technicality? Yeah, really served the public interest there guys, I hope you're all proud of your work, bending rational thought into funny pretzels in order to save this guy.

Think her calling her source could be responsible for the guy who was killed?

No. The execution was March 28th and Cook didn't view the video until May. Her calling into the Mayor's office really only got Gawker to publish, blowing the lid off the story before anyone had the video in hand or other solid evidence.